Saturday Miscellany — 12/27/14

Two whole weeks with nothing reviewed. Was two paragraphs away from having one up yesterday. Actually, I’m about two – four paragraphs away from having a bunch go up. Need to buckle down and finish those.

Anyway, here are the odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Down Mean Streets a Writer Went to Create a Hard-Boiled Character — The NYT gives us a peak at a new book about Raymond Chandler.
• title — And The NYT has a fun interview with Janet Evanovich.
• A Writer’s Worst Moment. — Paul Cornell collects the worst moments in a few author’s careers.
• Ebook growth is stagnating — the infographic sums the state of the industry up pretty well, who’d have thought this would happen so soon?
• Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover: Tech-Savvy Teens Remain Fans of Print Books — Nielsen reports that teens lag far behind adults in the ebook market. It’s counter-intuitive, sure, but for those who equate ebooks with the fall of civilization, this has to give a measure of hope.
• 10 Authors That Deserve More Buzz — The BiblioSanctum provides a pretty nice list.
• Why I AM Participating in the Goodreads Reading Challenge in 2015 — Last week, we looked at the why not. This week, it’s the why. Put me down for a ditto to this.
• The Book Riot 2015 Read Harder Challenge — In the last few years, I’ve had reading projects — from the serious to the silly. Didn’t really have much of one this year, at least not until late in the year. Might try this one in 2015 — it’ll be a stretch in many ways, but I think I can pull it off.
• But before we can start 2015, we’ve got some more 2014 Best of Lists to look at (mine should be ready early in 2015).
  • There Are Way Too Many ‘Best Of 2014′ Lists — yup.
  • My Long List: Best Books of 2014 — I like Ivory Owl’s categories
  • The Best Books of 2014, According to WSJ Readers — huh.
  • The Top 25 Best Fantasy Books of 2014 — Haven’t read a lot of what’s on this list (want to, tho’), but I’ve read enough to know I agree with a lot of Snow’s take (but not all)

Not too surprisingly, very, very little was released this week — and nothing that caught my eye. There’s at least one thing I know will come out next week (I ordered it months ago, and will hopefully get to read it this year).